Monday, July 1, 2013

It's becoming increasingly obvious for all to see that Milwaukee County Supervisor Deanna Alexander is in way above her head as she tried awfully hard to curry favor with Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele, the Greater Milwaukee Committee and their counterparts, the Bradley Foundation.

She cannot seem to help but run afoul of Chapter 9 of the Milwaukee County Ordinances - the Code of Ethics. Basically it says to steer clear of conflicts of interest and not to use one's position for monetary or political gain for themselves or their family.

Sounds simple enough. But like former supervisor Joe Sanfelippo, Alexander pays no heed to such things like ethical behavior.

Then in May, because she was late to the Board meeting, she called for a Suspension of the Rules just so she could have her vote counted against overriding Abele's vetoes of reforming county government, even though her vote made absolutely no difference. Two days later, Abele and representatives of GMC held a fundraiser for her.

Now Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting on yet another violation of the Ethics Code by Alexander.

Abele is upset because the Board voted in a super majority to terminate the services of Kimberly Walker, the inept and corrupt head of Corp Counsel. As a result, Abele had Alexander issue an unsubstantiated complaint against the rest of the Board, accusing them of violating open record laws.

So far, Alexander has yet to produce one shred of evidence that anything illegal happened other than she said so. When challenged about the appropriateness of her charges and the fact that she is violating the Ethics Code herself, her only rational is "purple unicorns."

Regardless of this being a completely baseless complaint which was only issued in a feeble attempt at intimidating the Board, Rick Esenberg of the comically named Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has agreed to represent Alexander in her complaint. And therein lies the rub.

It's not a problem at all, said Rick Esenberg, the lawyer representing Alexander.

He is the head of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a nonprofit law firm that uses the courts to pursue conservative and libertarian causes. It has received $1 million in start-up funds from the deep-pocketed Bradley Foundation.

Esenberg likened his outfit to the liberal American Civil Liberties Union, saying the two groups don't charge flat or hourly fees because they are litigating issues that are of interest to the general public.

"Deanna Alexander is not paying us with public money or campaign funds," Esenberg said. "We are public interest lawyers. We don't charge our clients fees."

Technically, Esenberg is being honest. As noted in the cited blurb, his group's clients are actually the Bradley Foundation, who is bankrolling his harassment of public officials.

However, because he is not charging Alexander, and she is the complaintant in this case, she is in violation of the Ethics Code again. Whether Esenberg does it pro bono, as part of the Bradley Foundation's directions or the through funding by the GMC, the fact that Alexander is receiving it at no cost to her, she is violating the Code.

It's really gotten to the point where it's pointless to file charges with the Ethics Board (which is compromised anyway) and just let the District Attorney look into the matter.

At least the new pink uniforms that the women inmates wear at the House of Corrections would go nicely with the purple unicorns that Alexander looks for.